Denzel Washington weighs-in on the Ellen Pompeo ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Incident

In September, she recorded an episode of her podcast. Grey’s AnatomyEllen Pompeo told a story about a time when she was on set filming an episode of the medical drama and Denzel Washington. Pompeo received some criticism at the time for how she portrayed herself in the story. VarietyWashington offered his opinion on the situation. 

Washington answered, “Yes!” when asked if they were in a screaming match. “no, no”While insisting that he did not know anyone involved in the incident. According to the outlet, however, The Tragedy of MacbethStar gave a “slight grin”And many more “But it’s all good.”

Washington directed the Season 12 episode “The Sound of Silence,” when they began to butt heads over Pompeo’s added direction of another actor –– which didn’t sit well with the two-time Oscar winner. “I was like, ‘Look at me when you apologize. Look at me.’ And that wasn’t in the dialogue. And Denzel went ham on my a–,” she told her former costar Patrick Dempsey on her podcast Tell me with Ellen Pompeo. “He was like, ‘I’m the director. Don’t you tell him what to do.’ I was like, ‘Listen, motherf—–, this is my show, this is my set. Who are you telling?'” 

She continued: “So, we didn’t get through it without a fight, but that’s actors for you. Passionate and fiery and that’s where you get the magic.”Denzel and the actress eventually reconciled, said Dempsey. Dempsey shared his feelings with Denzel on this episode of her podcast. 

“You’re living in that emotion all day long, so things can set you off really quickly so it’s really hard to keep that boiling, that emotion so it’s accessible — especially in television ’cause you gotta crank it out — that you are raw the whole day, and it’s important to create the right atmosphere on set where you’re safe to be able to do that,”He responded. 

Dempsey shared that he had a Denzel story all his own. The Enchanted star says he ran into Washington during a trip to craft services for a breakfast burrito on the wrong set. “He’s like, ‘Hey, man, you’re on the wrong set, this is not your set. Get out of here,'”He shared. “And then he looked at me and he winked and he was just giving me s— in a good way but scared me to death ’cause he gave me the Denzel Washington look.”